Some of Walt Disney World’s best, and most delicious, dining experiences don’t require you to dress up, make advance dining reservations, or plan ahead for. In fact, many of the quick service locations afford you the opportunity to try new things, including cuisine from around the world. This week, I’m going to take you with me to one of my favorites – Tangierine Café in Morocco in World Showcase in Epcot.

Plus…Summer refurb on tap for Pirates of the Caribbean, More celeb announcements for Star Wars Weekends, and more!

by Don Myers

Spring is in full swing at the Vacation Kingdom of the World, so let’s dive right into the latest edition of the WDW Radio Newswire…..

Let’s kickoff this edition of the Newswire with some exciting news out of Epcot. For this newsbit, we venture into World Showcase and make our way over to the Morocco pavilion. Last week it was announced that a brand new restaurant will be coming to Morocco. The dining location will be known as “Spice Road Table” and will feature both indoor and outdoor seating. The announcement was made on Monday April 1st, and when guests arrived at the park the next morning (Tues April 2nd), construction walls had already risen up around the site of the future dining spot. There’s no word yet on an official opening date for Spice Road Table, but the restaurant is expected to be open for business by the end of 2013.

For more Epcot news, let’s make our way over to Future World now. Back in the November 21st edition of the Newswire, I reported that Fountain View Ice Cream would be closing for transformation into a Starbucks location this spring. Well, the start date for construction is upon us, as Fountain View has officially closed up shop as of Monday April 8th. This is slated to be about a four month closure, as the Epcot Starbucks is scheduled to open up for business this August.

Time to board the monorail and travel over to Magic Kingdom now for some news on an upcoming refurbishment. For this one, we journey over the bridge to Adventureland, where a brief closure has recently been scheduled for Pirates of the Caribbean. The attraction is slated to shut down on Monday June 17th, and will re-open four days later on Friday June 21st.

Now it’s time to park-hop over to Hollywood Studios now, as another celebrity has been confirmed for Star Wars Weekends. In the March 19th edition of the Newswire, I reported that Ray Park and Warwick Davis would be on-hand for festivities later this year. Well, you can add Billy Dee Williams to the list of confirmed participants, as he will be appearing during Weekend IV (June 7th-9th). Williams brought the character of Lando Calrissian to life in Episodes V and VI.

For our final bit of news, we make our way over to WDW’s Flagship Resort: Disney’s Grand Floridian Resort & Spa. The Grand Floridian’s Courtyard Pool opened back up last week after a lengthy refurb of over six months. The pool closed down back in September, and was originally scheduled to re-open in December before plans got pushed back to late March. But the pool is officially open now, and the addition of a zero-entry side has completely transformed the entire appearance of the area.

Well, that’s gonna do it for today’s update. But before we call it a wrap, let’s take a look at the results of our previous poll. The question was:

Chef Mickey’s with 45% of the votes! The Best Friends Breakfast at ‘Ohana finished second with 27%, and Cinderella’s Happily Ever After Dinner rounded out the Top 3 with 11%. Once again, a big thank you to everyone that took the time to vote!

Now onto this week’s question:

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Don Myers covers news and recent events in Walt Disney World. He has been enamored with the World of Disney since his first trip to WDW in 1986. As they say, the rest is history! Don also has been a contributing writer for Celebrations magazine since 2009.